Marco Bezzecchi sets new lap record as Aprilia lockout front row at Italian MotoGP

Marco Bezzecchi will start the Italian MotoGP from pole after setting a new lap record at Mugello, while Aprilia machines locked out the front row.  

Q2 got underway with Francesco Bagnaia coming across the line first, however, the double MotoGP champion was beaten by nearly the whole field, including team-mate Marc Marquez. 

But it was Jorge Martin, who earlier in the day set a new all-time top speed record of 368.6km/h, that closed out the first run in provisional pole.

The Aprilias then showed their true pace as the session went on, as Bezzecchi set a new all-time lap record with a sub 1m44s lap. 

Bezzecchi’s best time was a 1m43.921, which put him over two tenths clear of Raul Fernandez, who managed to leapfrog Martin for second.

Down in seventh place, Marquez then moved up to fourth, becoming the first non-Aprilia rider thanks to a very good lap. Gresini rider Fermin Aldeguer narrowly missed out on fourth place, while Bagnaia completed the second row. 

The third row saw Diogo Moreira in a VR46 Ducati sandwich, as Fabio Di Giannantonio took seventh and Franco Morbidelli ninth. The fourth row sees Pedro Acosta start from 10th ahead of Enea Bastianini and Alex Rins.

Fernandez and Acosta advance from Q1

Wasting no time in trying to secure a place in Q2, Fernandez jumped to the top of the leaderboard with what was the second quickest time of the weekend at that stage. 

But his time was immediately beaten by factory KTM star Acosta, who set a time of 1m44.765s.

Following the opening runs, Acosta led the way ahead of Fernandez and Trackhouse team-mate Ai Ogura. 

At the start of the second run it was once again Fernandez who went top, while Ogura was on a fast lap before it went away from him in the final sector. The Japanese rider failed to improve on his final lap, allowing Fernandez and Acosta to advance.